Crushing apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a ball crushing apparatus for use in connection with an earth drilling tool characterized in that it is made up of a crushing chamber in communication both with a high-pressure fluid source and a lower-pressure space; the communication being such that a high pressure differential between the chamber and the pressure fluid source results, the chamber having an inlet by way of which are introduced solids to be crushed and at least one thin section inlet by way of which is sent at least one highspeed jet of fluid under the pressure differential, thereby provoking the movement of the fluid and the balls of the chamber and thus achieving the crushing of the solids.

United States Patent Cortes et al.

Filed:

CRUSHING APPARATUS Inventors: Abel Cortes, Grenoble; Elie A Gondolios, Le Pecq, both of France June 1, 1972 Appl. No.: 258,729

Foreign Application Priority Data June 2,1971 1 France 71.21158 US. Cl 175/404, 241/170, 175/380,

rm. Cl .L E2lb 7/16 Field of Search 175/404, 54,380,302, l75/333,60;241/17(), 171,180

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1939 l-lardi'nge 241/171 X ,[451 Dec. 10,1974

Primary Examinerl-lenry C. Sutherland v Assistant Examiner-Richard E. Favreau Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ernest F. Marmorek [57] ABSTRACT Disclosed is a ball crushing apparatus for use in con-' nection with an earth drilling tool characterized in that it is made up of a crushing chamber in communication both with a high-pressure fluid source and a lower-pressure space; the communication being such that a high pressure differential between the chamber and the pressure fluid source results, the chamber having an inlet by way of which are introduced solids to be crushed and at least one thin section inlet by way of which is sent at least one high-speed jet of fluid under the pressure differential, thereby provoking the movement of the fluid and the balls of the chamber and thus achieving the crushing of the solids,

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENT im 01914 SHEET 2 BF 3 Fig. 3

RES'SURE LIQUID SOURCE 1 CRUSHING APPARATUS This invention relates generally to earth drilling and, in particular, it relates to the ball crushing of solid particles entering a core barrel of the drilling tool.

The present invention has as its object a ball-crushing apparatus essentially characterized in that it is made up of a crushing chamber communicating both with a source of fluid under high pressure and with a space under lower pressure, these means of communication being such that the pressure differential between the chamber and the source of high-pressure fluid is high, said chamber having an inlet whereby the solids to be crushed are introduced and at least one thin-section inlet by which at least one high-speed jet of fluid is injected under said pressure differential, the effect of which is to provoke the movement of the fluid and the balls of the chamber and to thus achieve the crushing of said solids, which are then evacuated by way of a great number of calibrated orifices whereby said chamber is put in communication with the space under lower pressure, the total section of said orifices being sufficient to create only a slight loss of load, taking into account the delivery of the jetswhile their unitary section is at most equal to the maximum dimension allowable for the crushed products, the dimensions of the balls being greater than this unitary section.

The power absorbed by the chamber may be regulated dependent on the crushing to be done by working on the number and/or the section of the inlet orifices of the jets, this condition permitting one to impart to ence between the introduction pressure of the jets and that of the chamber.

In one particular embodiment of the invention, the crushing chamber is lengthened vertically, and the jets are therein introduced in a substantially vertical direction, converging on the axis of the chamber.

The apparatus in accordance with the invention may be inserted in a hydraulic circuit for transporting materials, said transport materials and liquid being introduced at one extremity of the crusher chamber, the high pressure jets being-introduced from an exterior high-pressure liquid source by way of orifices disposed at this same extremity, the drainage of the liquid and of the crushed materials being effected by orifices'on the side walls of the chamber, said walls being surrounded by an annular enclosure on which the downstream section of the transport conduit is branched.

An advantageous industrial application of the crushing in accordance with the present invention is its association with drilling tools operating with formation of a central drilling column or core, the essential problem to be resolved in order to improve the drilling speed of these tools being the destruction and evacuation of the central core produced by their operation.

Several mechanical devices are currently utilized for this purpose.

Among these devices, some have at the upstream end of the drilling tool a stationary member provoking the breakup of the core, the fragments of which are evacuated by lateral openings into the annular space of the surrounding hold.

Another type of device is the object of French Pat. No. 1,220,864. The different devices shown in this patent all-have at the upstream end of the tool, in the drainage of the drilling fluid in the direction of the tool,

a mobile member which being moved mechanically, produces the destruction of the core, the fragments of which are evacuated with the drilling fluid through the irrigation channels of the tool. This passage of the fragments through the irrigation channels of the tool leads them against the cutting face and thus subject the tool to a supplementary operation.

In the drilling tool equipped with an apparatus in accordance with the present invention, the crushing chamber, being of a vertical elongated shape, is placed in the lowerportion of the drilling. apparatus above the drilling tool, its lower extremity having a central orifice in direct communication with the central orifice of the them the desired speed, taking into account the differv tool, the drilling core entering the chamber by way of this orifice, high-speed jets derived from the draining of the high-pressure drilling fluid before its entryinto the tool being introduced by way of orifices placed at this same lower extremity and directed vertically in rising into the chamber and converging on the vertical axis of said chamber, setting the balls in movement and realizing the crushing of the core, the crushed fragments of said core being evacuated from the chamber with the liquid of the jets by way of the orifices in the side walls, said orifices being in communication with the annular space at lower pressure existing between the walls of the drilled hole and the drilling apparatus in such a way that said core fragements are carried up to the surface with the materials excavated in drilling by the liquid rising in this annular space, the orifice for the introduction of the core in the chamber being provided with an anti-return member preventing the balls from escaping by way of this orifice under the effect of gravity when the crusher is not in operation.

According to the number of jets and the section of their inlet orifices and taking into account the pressure differential between the high pressure drilling fluid and the pressure in the chamber, the power derived from the drilling fluid may be regulated with a view to effecting crushing under conditions of maximal yield and efficiency.

For example, when drilling-in soft terrain, where the core can be broken without great expenditure of energy, the jets will be such that only a small portion of the drilling fluids power will be used. On the other hand, where the terrain is hard the jets will utilize a greater portion of the drilling fluid's power.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments exemplified above, but may be used in other cases of crushing, whether in liquid or gaseous media.

For example, another modification of the device" according to this invention resides in making of the drilling fluid to pass into the crushing chamber and then directing all or a part of this fluid entering the materials crushed in the drilling tool by way of the drainage orifices of the crushing chamber prior to'their rising to the surface by way of the annular space in the hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a better understanding of this invention, together with other objects thereof, reference is had to the following detailed description of the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. I is a vertical section of a hydraulic crusher in accordance with the present invention, in connection with a drilling apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal semi-section on IIII of the crusher of FIG. 1;

1 serted in a hydraulic circuit;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section on 1-1 of FIG. 5 of a hydraulic crusher in accordance with the invention, with application to a drilling apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal semi-section on II-II of FIG. 4. FIGS. 1 and 2 are in overall schematic representation of a hydraulic crusher 14 associated with a diamond drilling tool 15 operating in a terrain 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, tool 15 drills the terrain by means of its diamond-coated surfaces and evacuates the excavated materials between the support tub 17 of the tool and the wall of the drilled hole.

At the center of the tool, a central core 18 is formed which is difficult to evacuate by way of the irrigation and evacuation channels 19 included to this effect in the tool.

The central core 18 rises toward hydraulic crusher 14 placed at the center of support tube 1.7 of the tool.

The big fragments of the core enter crushing chamber 14 in which are violently projected balls of a determined nature and size, for example, steel balls of a diameter between 10 and 30 millimeters.

The drilling liquid arrives by way of support tube 17 and passes by way of channels 21 disposed between chamber 14 and tube 17..

These channels feed an annular chamber 22 and distribute the drilling liquid either towards conduits 23 of the crushing chamber or towards tool-irrigation orifices 24 and grooves 27.

Conduits 23 are inclined toward the vertical so as to orient the jets at very great speed in the direction of the axis of the chamber in such a way as to impart to the balls and core fragments a movement such that after having struck the top of the chamber they fall back along the side walls toward the bottom where they are again picked up by the jets, and so forth. This violent mashing provokes multiple collisions between the balls and core fragments, and these shocks induce the rapid crushing of the core.

Balls 20, by returning to the bottom of chamber 14 along its side walls prevent the clogging of orifices 25 of said chamber by which the drilling liquid and the pieces of crushed core are evacuated.

Said liquid and fragmented material thus flow out into annular space 26 between terrain 16 and support tube 17, where they flow together with the excavated material and the liquid coming from channels 19 of tool 15.

FIG. 2 shows channels 21, which feed drilling liquid for the irrigation of the tool and the feeding of the jets of the crusher. It also shows orifices 25 for the evacuation of the fragments of the crushed core toward annular space 26. These orifices 25 have a smaller size than that of balls 20.

The crusher is equipped at its base with a device 28 having mobile fingers which prevent the balls from escaping from the crusher when the tool-crusher assembly is lowered or raised, but which allow the core to enter during drilling operation.

The presence of jets issuing from conduits 23 around mobile fingers 28 protects said fingers from the shocks of the balls or core fragments in the course of crushing.

The charge of balls and their operational life is such that the balls are not changed in the course of a drilling operation.

The power consumed by the hydraulic crusher is furnished by the drilling pump placed at the surface, said power corresponding to the drilling delivery, with a pressure differential between annular chambers 22 and 26 which can reach from 30 to 50 bars.

The application of the invention in accordance with the embodiment exemplified in FIG. 1 permits a substantial increase in the speed of penetration of the diamond tool in the terrain and notably decreases its depreciation in its central portion.

FIG. 3 represents a high pressure industrial circuit 1 which is of difficult access and on which occurs the formation of scales or large size hard concretions which may disturb the regular functioning of the circuit.

Evacuation by known mechanical means is long and difficult and significantly disturbs the functioning of the circuit.

In the context of the present invention these materials arrive by way of conduit 2 towardschamber 3,

where they may possibly be stocked prior to their evacuation.

The size of materials 4 is clearly bigger than the diameter of evacuation conduit 13 outside of circuit 1.

In order to permit their evacuation, materials 4 are introduced into a hydraulic crusher made up of a crushing chamber 6 containing a charge of balls 7 and surrounded by an annular enclosure 5, high pressure jets being introduced through orifices 8 into this chamber.

An exterior high pressure liquid source 20 provides a certain delivery of liquid both non-loaded and loaded with extremely fine particles which are incapable of provoking the obstruction of the circuits. The liquid is delivered to the orfice 8 at a pressure significantly higher than the operating pressure of the transport conduit, through the conduit 9 and annular chamber 10.

This liquid distributed by annular chamber 10 is projected at very high speed by the orifices 8. I

The jets issuing from these orifices 8 at speeds which in certain cases may attain I50 m/sec., agitate very violently the balls 7 placed in chamber 6 of the crusher.

The materials 4 are then crushed by the impact of the balls which collide with one another and are entrained by the liquid which issues from orifices ll placed around chamber 6 of the crusher.

The size of orifices ll of the crusher is such that the materials which issue from them have a size from two to three times smaller than that of evacuation conduit 13.

This size is, however, smaller than that of balls 7 which circulate in the crusher in order to crush material 4. 1

FIGS. 4 and 5 are an overall schematic representation of a hydraulic crusher 14 associated with a diamond drilling tool 15 in operation on a terrain 16.

As shown in FIG. 4, tool 15 drills the terrain by means of its diamond-coated surfaces and evacuates the waste between the support tube of tool 17 and the wall of the drilled hole.

At the center of the tool a central core 18 is formed; it is impossible, however, to evacuate the core by waste-evacuation and irrigation channels 19 included in the tool design to this effect.

Central core 18 rises toward the hydraulic crusher l4 placed at the center of support tube 17 of the tool and enters the chamber of crusher'14 in which are violently projected balls 20, said balls being of a predetermined material and dimension, for example steel balls of a diameter between and 30 millimeters entrained by the drilling liquid arriving by way of support tube 17 and passing by way of channels 21 located between chamber 14 and tube 17.

These channels feed a chamber 22 and distribute the drilling liquid toward conduits 23 of the crushing chamber.

Conduits 23 are inclined toward the vertical so as to orient the very high speed jets toward the axis of the chamber in such a way as to impart to theballs and core fragments a movement, such that after having struck the top of the chamber they fall back along the side walls toward the bottom where they are picked up again by the jets, etcJThis violent mashing provokes multiple shocks between the balls and the core fragments, said shocks inducing rapid crushing of the core.

Balls return toward the bottom of chamber 14 along the side walls of said chamber and thus prevent the clogging of orifices 25 of said chamber by which the drilling liquid and the debris of crushed core are evacuated.

Said liquid and said debris are evacuatedby channels 29 and irrigation grooves 27 of the tool.

P16. 5 shows the jet feeder channels 21 of the crusher. It also shows orifices 25 for the evacuation of the fragments of crushed core toward channels 29. Said orifices 25 are smaller in size than balls 20.

The crusher is equipped at its base with a device 28 having mobile fingers which prevent the balls from es caping from the. crusher when the tool crusher assembly is lowered or raised but which permit the core to enter it during drilling operation.

The charge of balls is sufficient and their resistance to depreciation is such that the balls are not changed during the drilling operation.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A ball crushing apparatus associated with a drilling device including a body and a drilling tool having a central orifice, comprising in combination,

a structure defining a crushing chamber of vertical elongated form having an axis, the crushing chamber containing crushing balls, said chamber being located in the lower portion of the drilling device above the tool, fluid inlet channels for feeding drilling fluid to the apparatusbeing defined between the device and the chamber therein, the lower extremity of the crushing chamber having a central solids inlet orifice, the orifice in direct communica-. tion with the central orifice of the tool, whereby matter to be crushed may be introduced into the crushing chamber, the lower extremity of the crushing chamber further defining conduits con- I verging toward the axis of said chamber causing the fluid inlet channels and the chamber to communicate, the vertical elongated portion of the crushing chamber defining evacuation orifices, evacuation channels defined between the device and the chamber being in communication with the evacuation orifices to permit the evacuation of the chamber, and directing the fluid and the debris of crushed rock thereby evacuated, toward the drilling tool.

2. A ball crushing apparatus comprising, in combination a structure defining a crushing chamber having side walls and a central axis and first inlet means opera ble to receive, and to pass into the chamber, solids to be crushed;

and second inlet means including at least one passage inclined in a direction converging towards said axis and being operable to'pass high speed fluid in the form of jets into said chamber, and a plurality of calibrated evacuation outlets;

a plurality of balls disposed within the crushing chamber operable to be agitated by the high speed fluid jets to crush the solids; the size of the calibrated evacuation outlets being smaller than the size of the balls whereby the fluid and crushed solids may be evacuated from the chamber while the balls are retained therein. 3. A ball crushing apparatus in accordance with claim 2, said apparatus being associated with a drilling device including a body and an annular drilling tool having a central orifice, the crushing chamber therein being of vertical elongated shape and located in the lower portion of the drilling device above the drilling tool, channels for feeding fluid to the tool being formed between the device and the crushing chamber therein, the solids inlet being located at the lowerextremity of the crushing chamber and being in direct communication with the central orifice of the tool, the fluid jet inlets being located at this same lower extremity effect the communication of the channels and the chamber, the calibrated evacuation outlets being distributed in the side walls to put the chamber in communication with the annular space cut between the walls of the hole and the drilling device by the annular drilling tool, said anti-return member being located in the solids inlet.

4. A ball crushing apparatus in accordance with claim 2, said apparatus being associated with a hydraulic material transporting circuit including a transport conduit having an operating pressure and an exterior source of pressure liquid at a pressure significantly higher than said operating pressure, the crushing chamber being inserted in the transport conduit, the solids inlet located at the upstream extremity of the chamber in direct communication with the upstream portion of the conduit, the fluid jet inlets located at this extremity causing said chamber to communicate with the exterior source of liquid, an annular enclosure surrounding said chamber and in communication by its downstream extremity with the downstream portion of the conduit, the calibrated evacuation outlets being located on the side walls of the chamber causing the interior of said chamber to communicate with the annular enclosure. 

1. A ball crushing apparatus associated with a drilling device including a body and a drilling tool having a central orifice, comprising in combination, a structure defining a crushing chamber of vertical elongated form having an axis, the crushing chamber containing crushing balls, said chamber being located in the lower portion of the drilling device above the tool, fluid inlet channels for feeding drilling fluid to the apparatus being defined between the device and the chamber therein, the lower extremity of the crushing chamber having a central solids inlet orifice, the orifice in direct communication with the central orifice of the tool, whereby matter to be crushed may be introduced into the crushing chamber, the lower extremity of the crushing chamber further defining conduits converging toward the axis of said chamber causing the fluid inlet channels and the chamber to communicate, the vertical elongated portion of the crushing chamber defining evacuation orifices, evacuation channels defined between the device and the chamber being in communication with the evacuation orifices to permit the evacuation of the chamber, and directing the fluid and the debris of crushed rock thereby evacuated, toward the drilling tool.
 2. A ball crushing apparatus comprising, in combination a structure defining a crushing chamber having side walls and a central axis and first inlet means operable to receive, and to pass into the chamber, solids to be crushed; and second inlet means including at least one passage inclined in a direction converging towards said axis and being operable to pass high speed fluid in the form of jets into said chamber, and a plurality of calibrated evacuation outlets; a plurality of balls disposed within the crushing chamber operable to be agitated by the high speed fluid jets to crush the solids; the size of the calibrated evacuation outlets being smaller than the size of the balls whereby the fluid and crushed solids may be evacuated from the chamber while the balls are retained therein.
 3. A ball crushing apparatus in accordance with claim 2, said apparatus being associated with a drilling device including a body and an annular drilling tool having a central orifice, the crushing chamber therein being of vertical elongated shape and located in the lower portion of the drilling device above the drilling tool, channels for feeding fluid to the tool being formed between the device and the crushing chamber therein, the solids inlet being located at the lower extremity of the crushing chamber and being in direct communication with the central orifice of the tool, the fluid jet inlets being located at this same lower extremity effect the communication of the channels and the chamber, the calibrated evacuation outlets being distributed in the side walls to put the chamber in communication with the annular space cut between the walls of the hole and the drilling device by the annular drilling tool, said anti-return member being located in the solids inlet.
 4. A ball crushing apparatus in accordance with claim 2, said apparatus being associated with a hydraulic material transporting circuit including a transport conduit having an operating pressure and an exterior source of pressure liquid at a pressure significantly higher than said operating pressure, the crushing chamber being inserted in the transport conduit, the solids inlet located at the upstream extremity of the chamber in direct communication with the upstream portion of the conduit, the fluid jet inlets located at this extremity causing said chamber to communicate with the exterior source of liquid, an annular enclosure surrounding said chamber and in communication by its downstream extremity with the downstream portion of the conduit, the calibrated evacuation outlets being located on the side walls of the chamber causing the interior of said chamber to communicate with the annular enclosure. 